Firewood
by I-Now-Love-History
Summary: "No! Everything is not okay! There isn't any firewood!" Raivis wailed, bursting in to tears. Toris held him awkwardly and patted his back, not sure what the big problem was. If they were out, they could get more. They could borrow some from a neighbor...


"Raivis! What are you doing? You're going to set Ivan off again! What are you thinking?" Eduard demanded, watching as Raivis came back from the outdoors empty-handed.

"There was nothing I could do! There is no wood outside. There is nothing I could possibly collect for the stove!" Raivis shouted back, sounding as if he was moments from breaking down in to full panic-mode.

"This is not good... This is not good at all!" Eduard muttered and started pacing, looking for anything that could be used as fuel for the fire. Winter had hit harder than any of the brothers had expected. And, due to the increasing number of guests in Ivan's household, the supply of firewood had dwindled in to non-existence. None were in danger of freezing to death. It was nothing as dramatic as that. The cause of the panic was Ivan's probable reaction to being told or discovering that the three nations had been unable to follow through on his orders.

"Get Toris! He's the oldest. He'll probably know what to do," Raivis declared, running through the already chilled halls of Ivan's household to find someone who, with all miracles attached, would know how to handle such a situation.

"I hope so..." Eduard sighed and ran down the opposite hall. Neither knew when Ivan would return home and neither wanted to risk running out of time.

"Toris! Toris!" Raivis shouted as he passed each and every room. Eventually, a very flustered and very concerned looking brunette flew out of one of the doors with a broom in his hand, looking ready to beat down whatever was causing his brothers to shout in such a way.

"What is it? What's going on?" Toris asked breathlessly and looked around and around, "Is everything okay?" At that question, Raivis launched himself forward and clung on to Toris.

"No! Everything is not okay! There isn't any firewood!" Raivis wailed, bursting in to tears. Toris held him awkwardly and patted his back, not sure what the big problem was. If they were out, they could get more. They could borrow some from a neighbor or-

"Toris! There you are!" Eduard proclaimed, holding his chest and looking as if he had just run a marathon. This made the situation all the more confusing in the brunette's mind. To have both freaking out so much... It happened, but not incredibly often.

"What about the firewood?" Toris asked gently. Raivis had been explaining a mile a minute. But Toris was sure that not even Raivis could understand what he had been moaning.

"We cannot find any. There is none left in the house. There is none outside. And Ivan ordered that we have more firewood in the crate by the time he got home," Eduard explained, trying to imitate the other's calm. He fixed his glasses a few times and straightened his clothes.

"That's not good..." Lithuania muttered to himself, already thinking rapidly about how to acquire said wood in the least amount of time. Getting to a store or a neighbor would take a while. His best bet was finding something outside. Raivis, more than likely, had not gone very far. Raivis was not particularly lazy, he just had the habit of giving up on things very quickly. But not all things, of course. Sometimes his youngest brother would get very fired up. That never did go well for him.

"What are we going to do?" Raivis cried and clung on to Toris more tightly. With a sign, Toris put his hands on Raivis' shoulders and knelt a bit so that they would be at eye-level.

"I am going to find some. I will bring it back before Ivan arrives and I will tell him that you were the one to find it. That works, right? No one will get in trouble then," He smiled and patted his younger brother on the head. Raivis looked relieved but not fully convinced.

"You better hurry, Toris. Ivan left a while ago." Eduard chimed in, looking to the frosty window to ensure that the Russian had not arrived home just yet.

"Right," Toris was already fishing around for his coat. He would have packed on more clothes, but he was in a hurry. It would not do his heart well to see Ivan in another fit, "Please finish with the curtains while I am gone!" He called, pulling on a pair of gloves and looking for a bag in which to carry the wood. When all hasty preparations were made, Toris flew out the door and ran towards the nearest group of trees, muttering a few words of frustration at the sight of new snow falling from the sky. If worst came to worst, he planned on tearing down branches from the trees and drying them out manually. The only problems came from how long it would take to break the branches and the longer time of actually drying them!

The first few meters were taken in quick strides. Toris almost felt as if he was running. His breath came to him less and less and his throat burned from the cold. But his body was managing the quick pace well enough. He had already lost sight of the household. It could not be much longer until he found a stack of wood. Surely there was some left from earlier. The likelihood that it was all gone seemed slim.

As he went deeper in to the forest, the trees seemed to get higher and higher. The lowest branches were at least thirty feet out of reach. Whenever he found a twig, he would pick it up and put it in his bag. But that was not often enough to make any real progress.

Meters and meters continued to go by and firewood seemed more and more impossible to find. Irritation was not quick to overtake the male, but it was letting itself be known. It was ridiculous to go so far and be unable to find anything that could act as even kindle. It had been a while since he left, or it felt like it at least.

"Come on," Toris sighed with a frown, kicking the snow beneath him to vent some of the frustration. He did not know how long he had been outside. He did not know if Ivan had already returned. Being absent upon Ivan's arrival? That would be something to worry about!

"Where could it be?" He mumbled, quickening his pace for two reasons. One was to keep the sub-arctic cold from permeating his too thin clothes any faster, the second was to cover more ground in a faster time. He was starting to wonder how far Raivis had gone. Maybe his brother had already looked for miles in advance. He had brought some twigs back with him...

At some bases of trees or some clear ground before bushes, there were twigs and small branches. Toris lifted the soaked wood from the ground, hands stupidly bare and already suffering from the abuse of the frigid Russian air. The water from the branches dripped down his coat sleeves on occasion, never enough to be substantial, but always enough to cause cold discomfort.

As Toris moved on the trees became more and more sparse. Thickets, bushes, weeds; those were the only plant life he could find outside of the various evergreen trees, the ones he had been walking through.

"Of course there won't be firewood!" Toris sighed, running his glove-less fingers through his hair and wishing for a hat, "This is Russia!"

Sure, Russia had the most forests of any country in the world, but all the trees were too big! "If this was Lithuania, this problem would not exist!" He groaned, slowing his pace. He was out of breath.

The search then changed to finding what plants and weeds he could use as makeshift firewood. Whenever a dead bush branch or plant stem was found, Toris would throw that in to the pathetically empty bag. The bag was still light and had barely enough in it to start a fire, let alone keep one going for more than a minute!

More time passed and more heat escaped both Toris and the atmosphere around him, racing rapidly towards the lucky folks who had searched and found firewood. Toris pulled his coat over his mouth and nose so that the air would not agitate his burning nose or throat any further. He kept his arm close to his sides and tried to wiggle his toes to dissuade the cold from pinching them. Despite the attempts at keeping warm, nothing did work too well.

'Hurry up and get back. Grab the branches off the trees, climb them or whatever! It's too cold!" He thought to himself and sucked in a breath, shivering. 'Leaving the house without more layers, smart move Toris!' He chided himself and continued to move his leaden legs forward one step at a time.

It was hard to judge how long it had been since he had left. Toris had paid little mind to that. This was something he then reprimanded himself for. His coat offered no solace. There was no wood in the bag. The efforts at finding wood were proving to be useless. His pants had been thoroughly drenched from kneeling. Ivan would be home soon. Ivan might have already been home. The outdoors was so cold. He was too stubborn to turn back.

Toris continued to dwell on the two miserable factors that weighed on his mind. The cold afflicted him violently but it seemed manageable. It seemed childish to turn around for something as small as being cold! Especially when doing something for Ivan. It was not that Toris expected anything horrible for having to explain the lack of wood. He just did not want to disappoint the male. It was always wonderful to hear a compliment ringing in his ears or to see a smile, an honest smile on the Russian's face. The latter of the two was the most rewarding. Toris smiled to himself at the thought of it. So, despite the cold that shook him, he kept going, ignoring it but complaining of it.

The world around him looked entirely the same. To the right were the promise of trees in the distance, as was to the left and any other side. The sky that poured forth new snow was a gray color no matter which way he looked. The plants looked the same. The lack of animals was the same. The only hint as to how to get back was the path of footsteps through the snow. 'Better be more careful next time!' He thought to himself, concerned for a moment at the fact that he could have been lost. Getting lost in Russia during the winter was a death sentence! Sure people would look for the lost soul. But chances were that frostbite would find and claim the lost soul first!

At last, Toris was back among the trees he had been through earlier. He had not noticed until then that being out from beneath the protection of the high-hanging tree branches had left his clothes and hair and body defenseless against the clouds' new snow. Every few steps he took, a small pitter-patter would follow him. This, of course, was the water dripping from the previously mentioned hair and clothes.

"Wonderful..." He could have laughed at his bad fortune had the bad fortune not been so unfortunate.

To look through previously unseen trees, Toris would stray from the path left by his footprints and wander in to different areas of the forest. This strategy showed him luck right away. Lying on its side was a giant fallen tree. It looked rotted and looked as if it had been there for quite some time!

"All right!" He smiled and began to pull the branches off one by one. He would have to remember this tree! It could be chopped up when all the branches were gone. The branches gathered would be enough for at least two days. The tree itself could probably make it close to two weeks if used in proper rations. So, chipper and ready to finally be home and out of the freezing snow, Toris slung the bag over his shoulder and stepped from behind the tree. That would have to be enough to make Ivan smile or at least look remotely happy. It was a shame the credit would not be his, but that did not matter. Besides, it had been quite a while since Toris had seen Ivan happy with Raivis!

Toris soon moved the bag in to his arms and held it close for warmth. This only succeeded in pushing the wet clothes against him, so he held the bag away and put it back over his shoulder. He had to move the bag often for any place it touched would become instantly colder. For the already trembling Lithuanian, this was not the best choice of position. Every mandatory breath brought with it more cold. The coat was too cold to filter air well anymore so it had to be taken from his mouth and nose so that the feeling of drowning would go away. The icy wind attacked the damp skin the moment protection had left it. Toris' nose and lips and cheeks stung from the cold for so long that they eventually went numb.

Getting back was Toris' one and only priority. Well, getting back with the wood of course. It had been a long time since he had left. He hoped that Ivan had not gotten back already. Toris' mind began to muddle the thoughts a bit. He was sure it was only from the previous panic and frustration that the lack of wood had left he and his brothers with. The cold sure was not helping, but he was sure he could manage it. Ivan's household could not be too far away, even if his footprints weren't in the snow any longer. Behind him was the open area that had no trees, so walking forward would bring him back in the right direction.

Walking and walking and walking and more walking but never did the house come in to sight. Toris began to wonder if he had somehow walked farther than he had measured. It would only make sense. He had been running when he left. A few more tremors wracked his body and nearly caused him to drop the wood. The cold had become so intense that it was painful. Gone was the pleasant chill that the air carried with it when spilling newborn snow.

The snow had stopped a while ago. It became more cold after that. And as the sun began to set, it became all the more cold. 'So long as I have the wood with me...' Toris was beginning to care less and less about the bag of wood and more and more about the prospect of being unable to find his way back.

"I left without a compass, I left without enough clothes... Oh lord..." He sighed and shook his head. He hoped to be able to laugh about this and soon. Really soon. The cold was so brutal that his arms and legs and feet had long since become as numb as his face. His chest hurt from the cold air. His eyes burned and stung from the cold. His hair felt like it had frozen from the cold. But he still planned on making it back. Though his legs were becoming increasingly more tired with every step. It would have felt wonderful to sit down if only for a minute or two. What would a minute or two matter? Raivis and Eduard could tell Ivan that he would be back soon. That would spare them any trouble. Switching around the "chores" was never a problem. So sitting would not be a problem either.

Despite the very convincing argument his mind had presented him with, Toris decided to keep moving forward. He was concerned that he would still be outside when it was pitch black. Finding his way home in that would be all but impossible.

More walking and walking and walking and still no sight of Ivan's household.

"This is impossible! I did not go this far!" Toris shouted, his voice shaking in rhythm with body as he spoke. When he looked around, everything seemed so unfamiliar. The trees seemed too big. The shadows cast from them made it seem as if there were bushes everywhere. He wondered if he had managed to turn himself around enough to where he was back in the clearing. But there were still trees... He had not known that such a place existed where there were both bushes and trees everywhere. Ivan had had the forest cleared of the excess plants so that walking through them would not be a problem. 'Am I not in the right forest?' He wondered with a quick panic. It would make sense!

Toris quickened his pace once more to where he was nearly sprinting towards whatever clearing he could find. Ivan's household was not at any of them! Breathless, he turned around, losing his footing and tumbling down a nearby slope. The bag became detached from his hand and fell along with him, spilling the majority of the contents on to the slope as Toris continued towards the bottom, landing flat on his back with a few pieces of wood by his sides and head.

"..." He blinked a few times and considered getting up. The only thing that stopped him was a chorus of wry laughter that exploded from his chest, "I guess I'm going to sit down after all!" He proclaimed at the top of his voice, which was not too much. The cold seemed to have taken the majority of his voice and strength.

Getting up took a while. But Toris did manage to pull himself to his unsteady feet in order to look miserably at the branches that were spread out meters apart. The twigs and thickets were as good as lost if they were not in the bag still. It was too dark to see them otherwise. Never in his life would Toris have imagined that collecting wood would be such a challenge!

After ten or so minutes of trying to find the branches, Toris gave up. He sat down and put his head to his knees. He could not have felt more miserable than at that moment. He was freezing. He felt sick both in body and at heart. All his efforts had been for nothing. And best of all, he still could not find his way back! It was a terrifying thought. He did not know if he had the ability to make it to sunrise. There was no shelter to be found, he would have seen that in his what felt like hours of wandering. There was no one around for miles. His only chance of being found was by his two brothers. But the chances of them finding him when it was so dark was as good as his chances of finding them. So, morbidly horrified, Toris pulled his knees closer and hoped that he would at least fall asleep before he froze to death.

"Ivan is back. Where is Toris?" Eduard asked to his little brother. Raivis shook his head and looked seriously upset.

"He's been gone for a long time! The sun will go down soon!" The younger proclaimed in a whisper as he watched Ivan walk to the door, moving from window to window to watch the Russian's progression. "What do we tell him about the wood?" Raivis asked, straying away from the subject that both of the brothers did not want to speak of.

"We'll tell him the truth, we switched jobs for the day and that he is getting the wood and will be back soon." Eduard answered. He did not want to think about the possibility of Toris still being gone past sunset. The two had finished with the work they needed so they did whatever odd-jobs they could find around the house. Defrosting the water, defrosting the windows; just in general a lot of defrosting. Ivan would look in every once and again but did not comment. As the sun began to go down, that changed. Ivan walked in to the room where the two were busy at work.

"Where is Toris?" He asked, looking around the room as if expecting Toris to show up.

"He is getting the wood for the fire!" Raivis answered in a nervous shout. Ivan's lips dipped down in a frown as he looked to the window.

"Has he been gone long?" Both Raivis and Eduard looked to each other, not sure on what the best answer would be. "Well?" Ivan pressed, looking back to the two.

"Yes." They answered simultaneously and nodded. Ivan's frown deepened for a moment before it was replaced with his very characteristic and very customary smile. He pulled his boots back on, apparently having not taken anything off other than that in the minutes he had been home.

"I'll be back!" He sang and was out the door in an instant leaving both Raivis and Eduard even more concerned about Toris.

Toris used the bag of wood as a pillow. It was not a good one, but it was better than laying his head on the snow. He could not believe that his luck had been so terrible. The statistics of those who were lost were high, but he did not want to be one of them! He was angry with himself for having been careless enough to be so hasty. For one who liked to over-think everything, he could scarcely believe that he had not thought about the "what if's" before he left.

'No point in thinking about it now.' He mused bitterly and closed his eyes. At least his eyes were warmer when he closed them. The wind did not get in them. He had been left tired because of the long walk and the running and the lifting and carrying and the cold, so drifting off in to some form of sleep was not a difficult task.

"Toris?"

Was there a voice? Probably not. The trees made strange noises that sounded like voices. So did the wind. Toris did not bother to open his eyes. He was sure that he was just dreaming. Opening his eyes would just interrupt his comfortable sleep. He falsely believed he had the ability to open his eyes.

"Toris? Are you okay?"

Once again, his eyes remained closed. He thought in his muddled thoughts that the voice belonged to his head, not to the outside world. Even when he felt himself lifted in to a sitting position and felt something warm wrapped around him, he still kept his eyes closed. The warmth and movement was probably...

"Poor little Toris," Ivan's voice registered in Toris' mind as Ivan's. Toris finally did open his eyes when he felt himself lifted bridal style, "Oh. You're awake!" Ivan hummed, looking torn between relief and humor at the sight of the brunette in his arms. Toris could not take his eyes off of Ivan. Ivan had found him. He had come looking for him. How strange...

"The branches are... Some are in the bag, the rest fell out." Toris mumbled, his words hard to understand. He pointed to where the bag was before realizing that Ivan had already picked it up. Happiness bubbled through him. Happiness for the warmth. Happiness for knowing he was not going to die. Happiness for...Happiness for... He still felt terribly sleepy and, despite his best attempts at keeping his eyes open, they fell shut less than a minute after Ivan started walking. He hadn't even had time to protest being carried.

Through the walk home, Ivan would pull the freezing brunette closer and make sure that his coat was wrapped around the male tightly enough. A hand would touch the male's cheek and neck to ensure the existence of a pulse and would retract when one was found.

When Toris woke, he was met instantly with the smell of smoke from a fire and, for a while, he could not place where he was. He felt something soft underneath him and was wrapped in more things than he could count.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning," Toris murmured, confused. Was it morning? He lifted a hand to rub his eyes, waiting for all the swirls sleep had put in front of his eyes to be gone. It wasn't morning. It was still dark outside. Eyes narrowed in a repeated confusion as he found himself lying down on his side. He was on a bed, clearly. But how was someone talking to him? Confusion took a long time to lessen. When it did, Toris felt his heart contract on beat with Ivan's voice as it spoke again.

"Are you warm?" With that question, he felt himself pulled closer, his chest held to Ivan's and his head resting near Ivan's shoulder. One arm was crushed beneath Toris, the other was still at his face but, without a doubt, it had been thrown over Ivan's body before he had moved it. Somehow he was wearing dry clothes. He could not tell for the life of him what they looked like. But without looking he knew they were Ivan's.

"I am," Toris answered, gratitude clear in his voice and on his face. How kind! Toris was certain that he would be 'released' and that he would be sent off to bed. This did not upset him. While he was still a bit chilled, he could not impose on Ivan anymore. He had already done too much. With words of thanks and departure already on his lips, Toris lifted himself up to move, being kept in silence when Ivan's hand touched his cheek.

"No you're not." Ivan returned, pulling Toris back down and close again, the same hand pushing Toris' face to Ivan's chest.

"I.. But I-"

"Shhh. Go back to sleep." Ivan instructed, brushing his fingers through Toris' hair. The sensation was enough to still Toris, leaving him feeling almost unable to move. It felt too nice to interrupt. The fact that it was Ivan doing so blew him away. He had wanted to see Ivan smile, that was the motivation, that and to help his brothers. His thoughts went to them but became distant as sleep promised to close in on him again. And as he drifted off to sleep, he felt warm lips against his own and heard the gentle words, "Sweet dreams, my little Toris."


End file.
